A bit of upcycling

I forgot to take a 'before' picture and pictures as I went along as didn't know how it was going to turn out, so this might be hard to visualise.  My sister gave me a top that she no longer wears but loves the pattern of the fabric and wanted me to make something from it so that she could still see the fabric.  She asked me to make a hat and scarf/cravat thing that are so popular at the moment for my niece as the top is a cotton/Lycra blend. 

I've made the hat and am in the process of making the scarf thingy (that's the technical term until I remember what they're called!)  I seam ripped the arms off and took the cuff off the one arm.  I stitched the top arm holes closed and then put the one sleeve inside the other to make a lining and stitched it all together.  Hope that makes sense!  Anyway, here's some pictures of the finished project:

As you can see the shape is a bit interesting, want to see it on my niece before I make any alterations though. 

I'm just glad that it's getting a new lease of life.  I know it could have gone to a charity shop, but as my sister was so attached to the pattern it's good that she can still see it even if she isn't wearing it.

Clowns and Indians

Here's the clown hats I've made for the Christmas boxes so I can tick them off my list and because I love adding things to my to-do list (*laughs*) I thought it would be fun to make Indian headbands too.

The clown hats I made by getting some patterned card and tying a pencil to some string and using it as a compass by holding the string in one corner and drawing a curve from corner to corner - I now wish I'd taken pictures as I'm not sure I'm explaining this right - and cut along the curve. I then hot glued the long sides together with a lot of help from my boyfriend and a few burns into the bargain! I stuck a pompom on the top and elastic to keep it on with threaded through holes make with a compass point.

The Indian head bands were made by drawing feathers freehand onto coloured foam and then painstakingly stitching each and everyone on to pieces of ribbon and then stitching a piece of elastic at the back. I say 'painstakingly' as it took two days to do five headbands and nearly drove me insane in the process! I don't know what it was about this project, especially as I thought it was such a good idea as I loved playing cowboys and Indians as a child with my sister as we had the suede tasselled waistcoat and everything!

Well, here's the pics: